Aretha Franklin Reportedly ‘Gravely Ill,’ Surrounded by Family

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, whose first album dropped in 1956, is "gravely ill" and surrounded by family in Detroit, according to a report.

Showbiz411.com noted: “Originally diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Aretha, who turned 76 in March, bravely battled back and refused to be knocked out by illness. Her last performance was on November 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. Her final public performance was at Philadelphia’s Mann Center in August 2017. It was a miraculous show as Aretha was already then fighting exhaustion and dehydration. Aretha is surrounded by family and people close to her. She will be so missed as a mother, sister, friend, cousin. But her legacy is larger than life.”

NBC reporter Harry Hairston also tweeted: "Spoke with close friend of Aretha Franklin and family. Iconic singer not doing well."

"I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from, and where it is now," she added. "I'll be pretty much satisfied, but I'm not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn't be good either."

See what these celebrities looked like when their very first albums came out: